Genesis 4:14 – Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
“I will be hidden from your presence.” After Cain killed his brother Abel he was fully deserving of death. (Exodus 21:12) However God did not kill Cain, but instead banished him from the land of his parents (which God had given to them). God also told him that the crops that he had tried to force God to accept as his sacrifice for sin (and so rejecting God’s way of mercy and trying to gain mercy by his own way) would no longer be fruitful for him. Cain had not realized that the crops he took pride in growing were, at the root, a blessing from God and not, at the root, a product of his own will and effort. It is God who blesses what we do and never, in anything, totally and only the product of our will and effort. That is why we must, as thankful and prudent servants of God, always give thanks Him. Yet Cain, full of pride, attempted to assert his will over the will of God and because of that he would not be able to further live and enjoy the land of his parents, and he would also not be able to grow bountiful crops as he had formerly taken pride in.
That Cain would say to God “I will be hidden from your presence” is an amazing statement. Cain was one generation from creation. As Cain was the elder son of Adam and Eve, he was privileged to learn of God from Adam and Eve. He was even privileged to present to God in person his offerings. He had known of God not only from the testimony of his parents, but also by having God in direct communication with him. And yet he said to the Lord that his punishment would mean that he would be hidden from His presence (from His face, His gaze). Cain had to have known that the Lord God is omnipresent and so he could not ever be out of God’s presence. Instead Cain was afraid, even though he seemed to reject God and His authority at every turn, that He would no longer be within God’s blessings and protection. He was afraid of being away from God whom He had been with all his life. This brings to mind that those who proclaim that they do not believe in God the Lord justly calls fools. (Psalm 14:1) Beneath their bravado and rebellion such people truly know that God exists, but because they prefer their own will to God’s will, they reject even the knowledge of Him. God did not call them unintelligent, but fools. The consequences of Cain’s foolishness was now upon him (Numbers 32:23) and he could not bear it. Could Cain have lived with God and truly believed that he could be out of God’s presence? Or perhaps he was more referring to not having God looking upon him lovingly, with blessings and protection. His cry brings powerful insight into Numbers 6:25-26 “the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” We ought not take this great blessing either lightly or for granted
If Cain, after living with God, knew so little about who He is that he thought that He could be out of the presence of God, then it is a powerful truth that God has only children and no grandchildren. We all must have our own personal relationship with Jesus to be a child of God. No one can be a child of God for us and we cannot inherit being a member of the family of God. We, ourselves, must love Jesus, and we must obey the Lord. We, every single one of us, through Jesus, must do that to live in eternal peace with God. May we all do so, may we be thankful and may we always praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”